Xcel Energy plans $1.8 billion in nuclear power plant upgrades

Minneapolis, Minnesota-based Xcel Energy wants to invest some $1.8 billion extending the lives and boost the power generation capacity of a pair of nuclear reactors, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

The utility holding company, which serves about 3.4 million customers in the northern Midwest and the Southwest, will spend about $280 million replacing the steam generators at the twin-reactor, 1,076 MW Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant.

Xcel will spend $600 million on the 613 MW Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant to improve the plant's safety measures and boost power output. Both nuclear power plants are located in Minnesota.

Representatives of the company have said the new steam generators being installed at Prairie Island will not have issues with the same problems that ultimately caused the shutdown of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) in California, according to the report.